Brandeis, the namesake for Brandeis University in Massachusetts and the law school at the University of Louisville, helped establish the concept of right-to-privacy, championed labor laws and fought against public corruption throughout his influential career as a practitioner in Boston. He was also an influential leader of the American Zionist movement before and during his years on the Supreme Court.

“Justice Louis D. Brandeis not only is widely regarded as one of the most outstanding justices in Supreme Court history, but also many consider him to be one of America’s greatest lawyers,” said UF Law Professor and Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law Michael Allan Wolf.

Urofsky, whose lecture is entitled “The Five Lives of Louis Brandeis,” is a leading Brandeis scholar whose most recent book on the associate justice, “Louis D. Brandeis: A Life,” was published in 2009 by Pantheon Books. Urofsky is the editor – with David W. Levy – of a five-volume collection of Brandeis’ letters as well as the author of 7quot;American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust” and “Louis D. Brandeis and the Progressive Tradition.”

“Professor Urofsky’s book on Brandeis is probably one of the most significant judicial biographies of the past decade – and of course Brandeis was more than just a judge,” said UF Law Professor and Associate Dean for Faculty Development Mark Fenster. “It was prominently reviewed upon its publication and very widely praised.”

“Mel Urofsky has spent decades studying the life and work of Brandeis, and this promises to be an enjoyable and informative talk,” Wolf said.

Urofsky is a professor of law and public policy and a professor emeritus of history at Virginia Commonwealth University and was the chair of its history department.

This event is free and open to the public.

Contact:
Matt Walker
(352) 273-0650
mlwalker@law.ufl.edu

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue its decision in Bilski v. Kappos on Monday, a patent case that could re-define patent eligibility and affect the legality of already existing patents.

When Bernard Bilski and Rand Warsaw invented a process to help businesses avoid certain risks through complex mathematics, they sought to patent their method. But the patent proposal was rejected because it dealt with the abstract ideas of mathematics, rather than being applicable to a physical machine, program or more tangible use.

The questions raised are whether a “‘process’ must be tied to a particular machine or apparatus, or transform a particular article into a different state or thing (“machine-or-transformation” test), to be eligible for patenting under 35 U.S.C. § 101″ and does the “machine-or-transformation” test conflict with “the clear Congressional intent that patents protect “method[s] of doing or conducting business,” according to the U.S. Supreme Court.

UF College of Law professor Elizabeth Rowe is available to discuss the case and the ramifications of the court’s decision. Rowe is an expert in patent law and was named Director of Program in Intellectual Property Law in 2010. She is a frequent speaker at national conferences on intellectual property and also serves as an expert witness in litigation matters. View her faculty page.

Contact her at 352-273-0927 or rowe@law.ufl.edu.

McDonald v. City of Chicago

The U.S. Supreme Court is also expected to release its decision in McDonald v. City of Chicago on Monday.

This widely anticipated decision involves not only the legality of a handgun ban in Chicago and Oak Park, Ill., but also the important question as to whether state and local governments can, through the theory of incorporation, violate the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms. In 2008, the Supreme Court found that the federal government and the District of Columbia could not violate Second Amendment rights, but left open the question that the court is expected to address in the McDonald case. The ramifications of the court’s decision will be felt not only in the nation’s courts but also in state legislatures, in city and town councils and in political debates during this heated election season.

UF College of Law expert Michael Allan Wolf is available to discuss the case and the ramifications of the court’s decision. Wolf, a lawyer and historian, is the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, whose expertise includes constitutional law and history, including the incorporation doctrine that is the key issue in McDonald v. City of Chicago. View his faculty page.

He can be reached at 352-273-0934 (office), 352-359-2497 (cell) or wolfm@law.ufl.edu.

The University of Florida has a broadcast studio equipped for live or live-to-tape interviews through our KU digital satellite uplink. For radio networks, we also have an ISDN live for clean audio interviews. To contact the UF College of Law Communications Office, call 352-273-0650 or e-mail mlwalker@law.ufl.edu.

The decision upheld the Florida Supreme Court ruling that the state can conduct beach-widening and reclaiming programs on eroded beaches – which could modify private property lines – without having to compensate private waterfront property owners. This could result in property owners losing private access to the beach and lower property values.

UF College of Law experts are available to discuss the case and the ramifications of the court’s decision.

Michael Allan Wolf – Wolf is the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, general editor of Powell on Property, a widely cited treatise on real property law, and author of several nationally recognized articles on regulatory takings law. His expertise includes property law, eminent domain and zoning. He can be reached at 352-273-0934 (office), 352-359-2497 (cell) or wolfm@law.ufl.edu. View his faculty page.

Danaya Wright – Wright is the Clarence TeSelle Professor of Law. Her expertise includes constitutional property law and property law. She is the author of several nationally recognized articles on regulatory takings law. She can be reached at 352-273-0946 or wrightdc@law.ufl.edu. View her faculty page.

The University of Florida has a broadcast studio equipped for live or live-to-tape interviews through our KU digital satellite uplink. For radio networks, we also have an ISDN live for clean audio interviews. To contact the UF College of Law Communications Office, call 352-273-0650 or e-mail mlwalker@law.ufl.edu.

In his new book titled, “The Zoning of America: Euclid v. Ambler,” author and land-use expert Michael Allan Wolf, a University of Florida Levin College of Law professor, and Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government, describes how the ordinance, and its defense, burst onto the national stage and became the focus of litigation before moving to the nation’s highest court. Wolf breathes life into the story by recreating the human drama that surrounded the case and provides city planners, zoning officials and those interested in history a chronological perspective as it relates to urban development.

“We still refer to basic height, area, and use controls as ‘Euclidean zoning,’” said Wolf, “and many of the legal principles addressed by the Taft Court in 1926 govern the work of American land use and environmental law attorneys to this day.”

“The Zoning of America: Euclid v. Ambler” (University Press of Kansas) draws on Wolf’s academic scholarship, land-use expertise and two decades of research into the intricacies and meaning of the case. Wolf’s compelling account of this landmark case, which Daniel Mandelker, the Howard A. Stamper Professor of Law at Washington University called “marvelous reading,” makes it clear that Euclid v. Ambler fundamentally changed how we think about the urban landscape, transformed the organization of our cities and suburbs, and left a long shadow over subsequent cases like Kelo v. New London (2005).

“Wolf is able to get readers instantly interested in the story behind the case through an examination of the various players including the parties, the lawyers, the judges and the court of public opinion,” said Patricia E. Salkin, Raymond & Ella Smith Distinguished Professor of Law, associate dean and director, Government Law Center of Albany Law School, NY. “For planners, the book is full of information about urban planning history; and for lawyers, the litigation strategy and the relationship among and between the attorneys and the judges makes for interesting fodder about the reasons for certain significant case-related legal activities.”

Merrill is the Charles Keller Beekman Professor of Law at Columbia Law School in New York, where he has been a member of the faculty since 2003. He previously taught at Northwestern University School of Law. From 1987 to 1990 he served as deputy solicitor general in the Department of Justice, where he represented the United States before the U.S. Supreme Court. He previously practiced law with Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood in Chicago, where he continues to serve as a consultant on appellate litigation, constitutional law, regulated industries, and environmental law.

Merrill earned bachelor’s degrees from Grinnell College in Iowa and Oxford University in England prior to enrolling in the University of Chicago Law School, where he earned his J.D. cum laude in 1977. Following graduation from law school, Merrill was law clerk to United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Harry A. Blackmun, as well as United States Court of Appeals Chief Judge David L. Bazelon.

The lecture series was endowed by a gift from UF Law Professor Michael Allan Wolf and his wife Betty. Wolf, the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, is the general editor of a 17-volume treatise, Powell on Real Property, the most utilized treatise in the country in the area, which is cited regularly by the courts, including several recent citations in the United States Supreme Court. The treatise is a legal source that lawyers, law professors and judges have relied upon for over half a century.

“My wife and I envision that the gift will enable the Levin College of Law to bring leading real property experts to share ideas with our impressive law school community,” Wolf said. “The text of each lecture will be published in the Powell treatise, which will enable the ideas to reach even a wider audience of practitioners, judges, and academics. We also want to expose these outstanding lecturers to all the great things we have at our law school, especially our faculty, students, and staff. In this way, the gift will further enhance UF’s already outstanding reputation.”

UF Law Dean Robert Jerry said, “The Wolf Family Lecture on the American Law of Real Property will provide a forum for leading academic experts on American real property law to present their ideas not only to our students but also to a national and international audience. We are delighted that the Wolf Family chose to create this significant series, and we are very excited about Professor Merrill’s inaugural lecture in February.”

Some of the toughest questions in First Amendment law are no farther away than your local stretch of interstate highway, says University of Florida law professor Michael Allan Wolf.

“From ads for adult entertainment to messages put up by white supremacist groups, Florida billboards have been the subject of some controversial disputes,” said Wolf, who holds the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law at UF’s Levin College of Law. “Just take a drive up and down Interstate 75 and you can find all sorts of interesting First Amendment questions.”

Wolf plans to bring together leaders in the outdoor advertising industry and prominent billboard opponents on Feb. 11 to address the scenic benefits and constitutional pitfalls of laws regulating roadside signs. The event, held at the University of Florida Hilton Hotel and Conference Center, will be the fourth installment in the law school’s Richard E. Nelson Symposium series.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Highway Beautification Act, a federal law intended to curb the spread of billboards along interstate highways – but regulation of billboards is still a topic of heated debate between advertisers and government officials.

In Florida alone, recent ads for strip clubs and billboards put up by white supremacist groups have created controversy for several local governments. There is a campaign to amend the state constitution to restrict billboard advertising. And the record hurricane season of 2004 has left local governments and outdoor advertisers at odds over the rebuilding of signs destroyed in the storms.

“Many of the destroyed signs were old billboards that were ‘grandfathered in’ when current regulations were passed,” Wolf said. “These are billboards that couldn’t be built under the rules we have in place today. But the owners of those signs are anxious to repair and rebuild without new regulations.”

There is also some concern over the growing role of media conglomerates in outdoor advertising, Wolf said.

“A large share of the billboards now in existence are owned by a few large media companies such as ClearChannel or Viacom,” said Wolf. “Some critics have argued that this consolidation violates anti-trust laws.”

The Nelson Symposium features speakers from all sides of the billboard-regulation debate, including:

• Jacksonville attorney William Brinton, who has represented local governments in a number of cases against outdoor advertisers.
• Nancy Fletcher, president and CEO of the Outdoor Advertising Association of America
• Harvard University law professor Charles M. Haar, who will deliver an address titled “The Highway Beautification Act: Looking Back After 40 Years.”
• Chicago-Kent College of Law professor Christopher Leslie, who will speak on antitrust issues in the outdoor advertising industry.
• Michael Hoefges, an assistant professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who will speak on billboards and commercial speech.
• Randall Thornton, county attorney for Sumter County, recently the location of some highly controversial outdoor ads.
• Miami attorney Tom Julin, who specializes in First Amendment cases.
• South Carolina attorney Marguerite Williams, who has represented outdoor advertising companies in anti-trust cases.

The conference begins at 8:30 a.m. at the Hilton, and lasts until 4:30 p.m. with a lunch break. Media coverage is invited. Journalists interested in attending the conference should contact Barbara DeVoe, director of conference planning at the Levin College of Law, at 352-392-8070.

The Nelson Symposium is held in honor of Richard E. Nelson, who served as county attorney for Sarasota County for 30 years. Nelson and his wife, Jane, donated $1 million to the law school to establish the Nelson Chair in Local Government Law. The Nelsons’ support of the Environmental and Land Use Law Program has played a key role in its recent recognition as one of the top 20 such programs in the country.

More info at http://www.law.ufl.edu/calendars/
Michael Allan Wolf; 352-392-3056; WolfM@law.ufl.edu

“From Penn Central to Pensacola: New Perspectives on Historic Preservation” will be the main focus of the Third Richard E. Nelson Symposium scheduled Friday by the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

National legal experts will join UF law school officials to discuss such topics as economic benefits of historic preservation, its church and state implications, tax and ethical considerations and regulatory taking questions.

The session – co-sponsored by the Florida Bar sections of Environmental and Land Use Law and City/County/Local Government Law – will be held from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. at the Paramount Gateway Resort and Conference Center in Gainesville.

Major participants, both professors of law, will be Robert W. Tuttle of George Washington University and David A. Brennen of Mercer University. Also participating and coordinating the event is the UF law school’s Professor Michael Allan Wolf, Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law.

A report on the “Economic Impacts of Historic Preservation in Florida” will be presented by Timothy McLendon, staff attorney for the Levin College of Law’s Center for Governmental Responsibility. McLendon is author of a handbook on Florida historic preservation law, and is co-author of the State of Florida-funded research report on which he will base his presentation.

Information on symposium details: Barbara DeVoe, Director of Conference Planning (352.392.8070 or eMail: devoe@law.ufl.edu) Professor Michael Alan Wolf (352.392.3056 or eMail: wolfM@law.ufl.edu)